Rabbit housing and feed

[fuzzlove]

petromalt?

 

[mom2jedi]

Quote:
Petromalt is available at most petstores in the cat section. It is used to help get rid of furballs in cats.

 

[AEFarm]

I'd also get some Petromalt in him ASAP.

X2​

 

[fuzzlove]

thanks very much ill try it

 

[fuzzlove]

Got hay and oats from the pet shop and the lady said try an apple and fuzz ate some of everything! woottttt! but as i was feeding him hay he pooped a jelly clear poo. normal or no?

 

[RabbitMage]

No, it sounds like mucoid enteropathy: http://www.lopsandcavies.com/rabbitry/rabbit_mucoid_enteropathy.htm

Keep him drinking, keep hay and oats in front of him. If this is a beloved pet, you may want to get a vet involved and see about getting fluids for him.

 

[fuzzlove]

there is no vet around us that will take rabbits.. is there anything we can do at home for him?

 

[rabbitgeek]

Quote:
I strongly disagree. Pellets are designed to provide 100% of the nutrition required for rabbits. A lot of expensive research is conducted to assure the correct proportions of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals are present. Product is regularly tested to assure the labelling is correct. Incorrect labelling would be fraud.

I know many rabbit keepers who rely on an all pellet diet. Adding extra hay or vegetables would unbalance the balanced nutrition.

So the blanket statement that it is unhealthy is what I disagree with.

Now - on the other hand, if a person does not want to have dependence on the feed mills, feeding a variety of foods like hay, vegetables, fruits, grain, etc. can be done successfully.

Many people call it "natural" feeding.

Rabbits can also be kept healthy and happy in outdoor hutches. Read my article at the rabbitgeek website
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/outdoorhousingmay05.htm

And yes, our rabbits would do binkies (aerial spins) inside their cages.


Have a good day!
Franco Rios

 

[Akane]

Hay should not throw the balance of nutrients off so long as you put a tiny bit of thought in to the type of hay. The bucks and nonbreeding does get grass hay and the growing rabbits and pregnant or lactating does get something with clover or alfalfa in it. You can't put long stem fiber in a pellet. No matter what you do it can't happen. Long stem fiber is needed to properly wear the teeth, I've seen studies and veterinarians talking about overgrown back teeth going undiagnosed a lot, and to really keep the digestive tract moving. You also find that a lot of people who don't feed hay talk about how their rabbits would drop dead if they were given any fresh foods of any type. I think the lack of long stem fiber to keep the digestive tract moving allows the fresh foods to ferment more and for gas from the foods to build up causing more instances of bloat and perpetuating the myth that rabbits can't have any fresh foods at all. My rabbits have done some stuff that everyone says should have had them dead by bloat and they were perfectly fine. Some of my colony rabbits got in to unlimited pellets and ate pounds of the stuff each. My mom fed them unlimited fresh alfalfa before most had ever had fresh foods. Every other month we give them large quantities of fruits and veggies that are leftovers from making food for our sugar gliders like melon and papaya rind. We don't have so much as a soft dropping. I think the large amount of high quality hay is the reason we don't have the problems that a lot of other people report. Our rabbits are from many different people from different states so it's not like they are all bred to survive these things and we have 3 different breeds. We feed them as much organic weed free hay as they will eat and they inhale the stuff. Even feeding organic hay of the best quality I've found in this state is cheaper than pellets. Hay has been fed to browsing and grazing livestock since the beginning of domestication because the nutrients and everything are correct for the animals. Aside from a few missing vitamins and minerals that are lost during the drying process hay is a balanced food all on it's own so long as you pick out good quality hay of the correct type. Everything else we feed to our livestock large or small is simply to fill in those few missing items. Out of convenience someone decided to try to roll that all in to a pellet but it's not quite the same. Fiber is not just fiber the same as protein is not just protein. I'm not saying a rabbit can't survive on a pellet only diet but I think you run more risk of health issues and have to be more careful about any type of treats than if you fed hay.

 

[Anianna]

Quote:
I strongly disagree. Pellets are designed to provide 100% of the nutrition required for rabbits. A lot of expensive research is conducted to assure the correct proportions of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals are present. Product is regularly tested to assure the labelling is correct. Incorrect labelling would be fraud.

I know many rabbit keepers who rely on an all pellet diet. Adding extra hay or vegetables would unbalance the balanced nutrition.

So the blanket statement that it is unhealthy is what I disagree with.

Now - on the other hand, if a person does not want to have dependence on the feed mills, feeding a variety of foods like hay, vegetables, fruits, grain, etc. can be done successfully.

Many people call it "natural" feeding.

Rabbits can also be kept healthy and happy in outdoor hutches. Read my article at the rabbitgeek website
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/outdoorhousingmay05.htm

And yes, our rabbits would do binkies (aerial spins) inside their cages.


Have a good day!
Franco Rios

I believe the issue here is semantics. While nutrition is required for good health, there are other aspects of health to consider, including digestive health. While the pellets do provide complete nutrition for rabbits, hay is required for improved digestive process that will extend the life of your rabbit. It also improves oral health. Production meat facilities don't worry about this because the life expectancy of the rabbits is short and improving the rabbits' digestive and oral health is considered an unnecessary expense. However, for pet rabbits and even backyard livestock varieties, adding hay to the diet improves digestive health and keeps things moving along for a long-lived, healthier rabbit.